Repurposing a Nokia adapter cable - Request for info

[GeekDoc 226]

This post/question is mostly for simpleavr, since I know he has experience with this , but I wanted to post it openly so others could possibly assist / benefit.

 

I have a data cable from my old Nokia phone (6100?). I had heard that these are simply USB-to-serial adapters, and could be repurposed, so I hacked mine open. It looks promising, but I'm not sure how to proceed. Here is what I found (sorry for the crappy cell-phone close-ups):

 

 

Ten connection points (of which, four were used) and a bunch of test pads (including 3.3v!), all fairly well marked.

 

Where do I go from here? How can I test it once I have the wiring figured out? What kind of baud rate can I expect? (If I get a high rate, it's going to be part of a USB oscilloscope.)

 

Tips and links are very welcome! Thanks.

 

-Doc

[simpleavr 399]

1st thing is to plug it into your pc and see how (or does it) it got recognized.

 

in linux, we do 'dmesg' and see the last few lines, most will show up as a pl2303 device and automatically become /dev/ttyUSB0.

 

guess in windows u should look at device manager.

 

then u need to get your multimeter and try to find.

 

Gnd, Rx, Tx.

 

may be start by plugging into pc 1st.

 

[EDIT]

closing looking at the pcb shows very promising, never seem one like this (may be it's genuine nokia)

got big test pad and "labeled" for u, Tx, Rx, DTR, etc.

if it got recognized by pc u could jump right into it and connect Tx and Rx and do an echo test.

[bluehash 1,581]

If you have windows 7, the PL2303 driver gets automatically detected and installed if you allow the driver manager to search online.

[GeekDoc 226]

1st thing is to plug it into your pc and see how (or does it) it got recognized....

...if it got recognized by pc u could jump right into it and connect Tx and Rx and do an echo test.

Win7 sees it as "USB-UART Controller," but doesn't find driver. Any ideas where to look for one? I'll try Googling for "USB-UART Controller," but that doesn't seem promising.

[bluehash 1,581]

Do you know if it is a Nokia CA-42 or DKU-5 cable?

[bluehash 1,581]

Try installing the PL2303 driver, maybe you'll get lucky.

 

From: Mobildia Forums

I also recently received a "knock-off" CA-42 cable for $5 vs $40-$50.

 

I struggled for awhile with the Nokia Suite Drivers then after finding this forum the "substitute" drivers and hacks etc. etc.

 

Finally I read about running the Prolific PL 2303 driver and voila the Nokia drivers themselves worked (a couple of other posters have mentioned this but I believe this solution gets overlooked because of the focus on getting the right drivers to work etc.)

 

My suggestion would be again ensure the cable is disconnected and all old drivers removed. Then go and download the Prolific PL 2303 driver. (this site is not letting me give the link for some strange reason but it has been posted somewhere earlier in this thread, or just do a search). After this has been run then plug in the cable, you will see that no exclamation occurs and the cable is now ready to embrace Nokia PC Suite.

 

Good Luck,

[GeekDoc 226]

No luck on any of the drivers I've found, nor the Prolific one you linked to, bluehash (thanks).

 

In my searching, and with what little memory i have left, I seem to remember that this was an original Nokia DKU-2 cable. I remembered the sticker on it when I saw a photo in my search. Of course, I bought it off eBay, so who knows if it was a counterfeit?

 

At this point, it would probably be easier to just buy a cheapo from eBay with the drivers included. simpleavr: Got any recommended sources for one that's easy to convert?

 

-Doc

[simpleavr 399]

i brought 4 this year from, one ca-42 from dealextreme at $4.44 (shipping incl), this is the one i used for the spectrum analyzer.

 

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.446

 

another two ca-42 from two different ebay sellers ($2.00, each, shipping incl), one more dku-5 from ebay, i was trying to find those older types that has 4/5 wires (Vcc incl.) but to my disappointment, all are the same inside, 3 wires having the same pcb.

 

if u get them, i can provide a short write-up / diagrams to show the best way to hack and use it. w/o any modification u can immediately use it (free from launchpad) via the 3 wire, Gnd, Tx, Rx. but u need to power your project separately. i draw the 4th wire 3.3v so i don't need to power my projects separately. but this requires me to break the cable, expose the pcb and replace the 3-wire cable w/ a 4 wire (as u can see on my spectrum analyzer page http://www.simpleavr.com/msp430-projects/rfm12b-spectrum-analyzer, under alternate construction section. i did that one reasonably well with 4 pin headers both way.

 

u should expect around 20 days to get them, but they are dirt chip and very useful, especially for small project i built w/ the ti sample chips. i had one w/ RTS line to do arduino bootloading w/o problem.

 

anyway, did your old usb cable show up as anything? may be just need to install a driver.

[cde 334]

Find the Vendor ID, and Product ID of the usb device, and you'll find the driver in no time.

 

Its a bit tricky to find in windows, but http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/12863 ... oduct-list

has some info.

 

And for what its worth, most knockoff nokia cables have actual chips in them, not just chips-on-blobs like you do. Seems like an original cable.

[GeekDoc 226]

i brought 4 this year from, one ca-42 from dealextreme at $4.44 (shipping incl), this is the one i used for the spectrum analyzer...

another two ca-42 from two different ebay sellers

Thanks! I just ordered two from eBay: $3 for one with a driver CD, and $2 for one without. I'll post photos (and ask for assistance) when I get them in a few weeks.

[GeekDoc 226]

Find the Vendor ID, and Product ID of the usb device, and you'll find the driver in no time.

 

Its a bit tricky to find in windows, but http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/12863 ... oduct-list

has some info.

I'll look into this a bit more another time. Maybe I'll run across a driver disk around here somewhere. Seems like the way to go for now is just order some cheapo cables and have done with it.

 

Thanks for the link!

[simpleavr 399]

took a few shots of my cables today in case someone needs to compare w/ their hacks.

 

this one is the more recent ca-42s from ebay and dealextreme

 

if u just need uart and don't care about powering your project, u can just rip off the phone end connector and u will have 3 wires. Rx-Red, Tx-Blue, Orange-Gnd. u can just add header pins and connect to your breadboard project. note that Rx,Tx mentioned are from the cable, u need to connect Rx to Tx of MCU and Tx to Rx of MCU on your project.

 

if u had a dku-5 cable, the pcb is the same, but the dongle is in black color and the wires are of different colors (still 3 wires) and u have to use a multi-meter to figure them out (i forgot to make note of them).

 

if u want to supply 3v or 5v power via the cable, u need to cut out and expose the pcb on the dongle side, locate the 3.3v or 5v source and run an extra wire to the far end. here is one.

the way i did it was to remove the original 3 wire strand and replace with a 4 pin header and run a 4 wire jumper to my projects. the pinout here are red-3.3v, black-Rx, yellow-Tx and green-Gnd.

 

u can also see on the photo where i add the 3.3v thru a brown wire add-on. if u need 5v u can trace it from the USB supply point.

 

for completeness, i also upload this photo of an older ca-42 cable (pl2303 chipset) that i used as for a breaduino (breadboarded arduino). the older pcbs has lot more connectors w/ easy to id rts dtr lines.

 

this one got the dtr needed to do automatic download for arduinos, added switch is for powering 5v projects. haven't touch it for almost 1 year though.

[GeekDoc 226]

Thanks for the great info and photos! I'm still waiting on my two cables from eBay. If I get really lucky, I'll find a driver for my old cable (that has LOTS of pins and test pads).

 

EDIT: First cable came from eBay, with the usual mini-CD with drivers. Score! The driver works with my old dongle (shows as a virtual COM port).

 

I cut the cable on the new one, and it has four wires (red, black, white, green); I'll probably have to probe them to find out which is which. Any tips on how to do that? :?

 

I'm thinking one of these will become the comm link between my Meter Monitor and the computer.